Clerk, Self-Help Center Staff, and Librarian Ethics

Agenda and Materials for February 18 Commission Working Group on Judicial Systems Innovations

Dear Colleagues -

SRLN Brief: Law Library Ethics

The following are resources on law library ethics:

Article: No Legal Advice from Court Personnel - What Does that Mean (Greacen 1995)

This is the seminal article that explores the underlying rationale that resulted in the blanket prohibition of clerk's not being able to provide information to the public for fear that it would be advice.

Article: Legal Information vs. Legal Advice - Developments During the Last Five Years (Greacen 2001)

This article by John Greacen is an update on his seminal 1995 article, "No Legal Advice from Court Personnel, What Does that Mean?"  

Presentation: Legal Information and Legal Advice: The Hard Situations (Greacen 2010)

Presentation on the distinction between legal information and legal advice given by John M. Greacen at the 2010 California Conference On Self-Represented Litigants April 29-30, 2010.  

Article: Ensuring Access to Justice in Tough Economic Times (Broccolina & Zorza 2008)

This article outlines seven suggestions for the courts which require relatively small or easily found upfront investment and minor ongoing expenditures.

Curriculum: SRLN Court Solutions Conference Leadership Package (SRLN 2008)

The Self-Represented Litigation Leadership Package was prepared by the Self-Represented Litigation Network and launched at the Court Solutions Conference on September 8-10, 2008, in Baltimore, Maryland. The core of the Package is fifteen modules,

Webinar: Distinguishing Legal Information from Legal Advice (Greacen 2007)

This webinar is geared toward the court clerk environment and includes discussions on the importance of this topic / why we should care; problems with a vague standard; standards that don't work; principles upon which to build a sound policy; ethi

SRLN Brief: Integrating Unbundling into Self-Help Services (SRLN 2015)

The states vary tremendously on how they may have integrated unbundling into their service delivery systems.